DATE: Tuesday, May 20, 1997                 TAG: 9705200215

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   58 lines

HUNDREDS MOURN BENN; RIVER SEARCH CONTINUES

Family and friends of former School Superintendent Mack Benn Jr., who disappeared in a boating accident last week, tried Monday to do what they believed Benn would have urged: Get on with life.

Searchers continued looking for Benn in the Nansemond River as several hundred mourners from all parts of the community packed a borrowed church because Benn's church wasn't large enough. They paid homage to the retired educator and former School Board member who never let danger keep him from enjoying life's pleasures.

``Mack expected to win,'' said the Rev. Wayne C. Hodge Sr., pastor of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, where Benn was a member for 50 years. ``And most of the time, he did.''

Even on Wednesday, the day Benn disappeared, he enjoyed fishing for croaker with his brother-in-law, Leon W. Armistead, until the weather worsened and the 12-foot boat tipped as the men prepared to head for shore.

Benn, who was not wearing a life jacket, vanished in the water. Armistead managed to cling to the overturned boat until he was rescued by a crabber about 30 minutes later.

Benn, 69, enjoyed his family, his riverfront home in northern Suffolk and his leisure activities - fishing, golfing and flying.

``He was not about to let the dangers of the world put a stop to the joy,'' Hodge told those gathered at Metropolitan Baptist Church, a block from Benn's church. ``The reason we are here is because we were able to touch that joy.''

Benn, a Suffolk native, ``took on the headache jobs,'' Hodge said. He coached and taught in Suffolk high schools, served as principal at several elementary schools and ended his 35-year career as superintendent, from 1986 to 1988.

In 1991 he was briefly acting superintendent and then was a consultant credited with helping straighten out the school system's budget problems.

Hodge urged Benn's fishing buddies to catch one for Benn this summer. He told Benn's golfing pals to ``swing with a lot of gusto.''

And he encouraged Benn's family to put their grief behind them, despite the lack of closure on the tragedy. He told Bruce T. Benn, an assistant principal at Bayside High School in Virginia Beach, to emulate his father when a student was sent to his office. ``Give him the best shot you've got,'' Hodge said.

To Mack Benn III, an airline pilot who lives in Phoenix, he said, ``On your next take-off, punch it.''

And he prayed that Benn's wife, Elaine, could enjoy the sunset over the Nansemond River, despite reminders of the accident and the boats still searching.

The world, though dangerous, is also a wonderful place, Hodge said.

``And it's a much more wonderful place than it has been because Mack Benn has been in it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

JOHN H. SHEALLY II, The Virginian-Pilot

Elaine Benn, the wife of Mack Benn Jr., 69, is comforted by her

sons, Bruce T. Benn, left, an assistant principal at Bayside High

School in Virginia Beach, and Mack Benn III, an airline pilot who

lives in Phoenix, at a memorial service Monday in Suffolk.

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